They say timing is everything, and the timing for Darryl Katz to declare his coach is safe is very puzzling.

Prior to the Oilers game tonight against San Jose, Katz sent a text to the pre-game host on Oilers radio, Bob Stauffer, that said basically “MacTavish is going nowhere.”

Not earth shattering news to anyone that the owner has the back of his coach, but why he felt the need to say it publicly is perplexing.

The pulse-o-meter in the OilersNation reads that the fan’s anger, disappointment and frustration are at an all-time high. The Oilers are on the verge of missing the playoffs for the third straight year, all with MacTavish behind the bench. They are coming off another typical loss, which included a 15-minute lapse that cost them the game, not to mention an illegal stick call that backfired in MacTavish’s face.

Yesterday, MacTavish stated that even he would understand if his job security was wavering.

“I’ve been here for a number of years and I’ve had terrific support from virtually everybody and if I’ve got less now than before, it’s a hazard of the profession. You have fixed time to deliver the goods. I’m not forecasting anything, but you’re always evaluated on how many games you win. We’ve got ourselves in a position where we should be better.”

Did Katz send out the message because he wanted to protect his coach? Was there a need with five games to go in another disappointing season to create more friction between the team and their fans?

The team is underachieving, despite a high payroll and almost no financial flexibility in the future. Season number one as the new owner has not gone the way Katz or anyone in the Oiler organization hoped it would.

His text message just fuels the fire that new GM, Steve Tambellini, doesn’t have much say in how the organization is run. And there is no evidence that shows Tambellini has the ability to be a true GM under this regime.

Or maybe Katz just gave his coach the proverbial kiss of death. He wouldn’t be the first owner or GM to come out and proclaim the coach’s job was save, only to give him a pink slip a month later.

I’ve stated for months that MacTavish won’t be fired, but that he would resign when he felt he wasn’t benefiting the team. After the loss to the Ducks, you got the feeling that MacTavish was begining to wonder if his departure behind the bench might be best for the team.

If the coach has the slightest tinge of doubt, why wouldn’t the owner? If Katz doesn’t realize his team needs changes on and off the ice this summer, you wonder if the fans frustration starts to appear in the form of empty seats next season.

The Oilers haven’t been able to realize what time to show up on many nights and today their owner followed suite with some bad timing of his own.

One of Canada's most versatile sports personalities. Jason hosts The Jason Gregor Show, weekdays from 2 to 6 p.m., on TSN 1260, and he writes a column every Monday in the Edmonton Journal. You can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/JasonGregor

Maybe Katz is trying to gauge how little the fan's opinions really matter.
Either way he chose a pretty terrible time to crush our souls further.
Why not just cut me off from buying my 'scripts Katz? That I could understand, but keeping MacT?!

Kevin Lowe handed the reigns over a year too late. By the time this team is ready to win, the vets will be long gone (or shells of themselves). He moved 3 key core roll players last summer that this team could desparatly use.

Jarret Stoll was supposed to be this teams future captain. Some thought maybe that time came prior to last season after the Jason Smith trade. The Oil instead named Ethan Moreau captain and then played virtually all season without their team leader. Stoll was a key faceoff man and a key penalty killer - both problem areas for the Oil since moving him. Also, now without Stoll, the Oilers felt the pressure to get Shawn Horcoff signed. Without another veteran center, Lowe had to act fast to ensure Horcoff was locked up long-term, signing him to a six year deal with a cap hit of $5.5 million (actual $$ figure of $7 million next season). Jarret Stoll soon after his trade signed a new four year deal worth $3.6 million (the same 3.6 that Horcoff is making under his old deal). Now I’m not saying they should’ve kept Stoll over Horcoff. I’m just saying that with Horcoff signed to a deal paying 3.6 til the end of this season (no 6yr extension) and Stoll signed to that same 4yr deal LA gave him, the Oil may not have been leveraged by Horcoff so badly. Or at least they could’ve decided to move the impending UFA at the deadline and kept Stoll to be the team leader he seemed destined to be.

This team has lacked energy all season and at times has lacked grit. Raffi Torres’ name come to mind? I know he was frustrating at times and he lacked consistency, but he’s 27 (just hitting his prime, or physical & mental maturation if you will, lol). Have you noticed what he’s done for the Columbus Blue Jackets lately? And now they’re looking at him to be a key veteran leader for a young, inexperienced team (kinda sounds like the Oilers). One can only wonder what he could’ve done for this team. He may have been frustrating, but surely not as frustrating as this year’s team. After last season, I figured that I would rather move Ethan Moreau than Torres. Torres is not only younger, but more skilled. And with some criticism of Ethan Moreau this season, could it be that I was right. I’m not questioning Moreau, I’m just saying that maybe he’s not the right captain for this team. Heck, take a look around the league at all the other captains and check their ice time to Moreau’s. Doesn’t that say something. Gritty, classy veteran that any contender would love to have, but maybe not the right man to lead this ship.

With such an urgency to remodel their blueline in more of a puck moving style, Kevin Lowe may have tipped the scales to far. Matt Greene was pegged as Jason Smith’s replacement, and with Steve Staios’ time nearing an end, Green would’ve become the big, #4 physical, stay-at-home, shutdown defenseman this club lacks. Instead, he along with Stoll, have taken LA’s penalty-kill from 29th last season to 9th this season. The Oilers incidently went from 5th last season to 28th this season. Coincidence? And many of the same things said about Moreau could be said about Staios.

There’s a time to be loyal, and a time be right. No one ever questions how loyal the Oil are.

I felt sorry for Lowe and MacTavish during that press conference. Both of them have been part of this franchise for years, and I don't doubt that they bleed Oiler blue and desperately want the franchise to succeed.
But you can't argue with results and this team has been going in circles since Pronger decided to pull the plug in 2006 and I can't see it changing so long as the old boy culture is ascendant. Lowe's had this team for almost ten years - he's spent most of it filling the front office with the boys on the bus without any thought to how that impacts on the product that ends up on the ice. Loyalty is great - hire all the old Oilers you want but don't make them scouts, or assistant coaches, or farm team coaches or whatever it is Dave Semenko does.

I really like Craig MacTavish. I think he's a smart coach and he (mostly) thinks the game really well. When he's been handed a strong team (after the trade deadline in 2006, when Lowe brought in Roloson) he's done really well. But he's suffered thru a lot of management mistakes over the last three years and you have to wonder whether some of the admittedly boneheaded moves he's made this year have come out of the stress and frustration of being thrown under the bus by his buddies upstairs.

Then again, maybe they win four straight, and Nashville tanks, and all is right with the world again...

D-Mo wrote:
MacT looked disappointed to hear that he is not going anywhere.
MacTavish looks just like a man who has been subject to unrelenting criticism all year and just saw his playoff hopes disappear should look - defeated.
This isn’t aimed at you specifically, but while much of the criticism levelled at MacTavish has been valid, much of it has been incredibly personal and unwarranted. He cares - anyone who watches him can see that he cares.
Sure, sending out O’Sullivan, Gagner, Nilson, Souray, Grebeshkov and Gilbert as the six players in the last minute of the season that mattered was stupid (as were a bunch of other moves) but his heart’s in the right place.
I like MacT, I really do. It’s a shame that his performance means he shouldn’t continue as coach.

Yes, god forbid we judge our coach on his performance.

At least Flames fans are getting a good laugh at this debacle. And for the first time in 30 years, I have no response. How can you defend this?

I'd like to know why people keep saying that mac-t would be hired by another team in a heartbeat if he were to leave. I mean what's this based on.
-His three playoff's appearance's in eight years (two first round exits).
-Never even been nominated for coach of the year.
-Missed the playoffs three years in row even though team's been right up to the cap in each of those years.
-Continully seeing player's do good on other team's, come here and start struggling, get traded and their back to normal.

I would shocked if he got hired by another team, and even more shocked if he'll ever have any success as an nhl coach.

And to add to that I don't even think that his decison making is that bad. I liked having the kids out their to end the game. Better than Horc, Pisani, Moreau, And staio's. And Hemsky would have just given the puck away anyway. And THE CALL would have been the best coaching decison of the season had it worked, so I liked that as well.
The problem however is that he can not coach any kind of system. look at what Nashville and St.Louis are doing with no better team's than our's with more injury problem's. With a good solid system it does't matter as much who play's where because everybody's on the same page, and they only have to focus on their own job's.

He coached a competitive team in a season where Todd Marchant was his highest-scoring centre. He's been to the Stnaley Cup finals, and people are too quick to dismiss his pre-lockout work with a very cheap team.

The debacle in 2006-07 was certainly not his fault, given the lineup, and the team's performance in 2007-08 was strong considering he was breaking in 7(!) different rookies.

I’ve been a fan for over 30 years, since the Rusty Patnaude/Bill Flett days and all I can do is shake my head in disbelief. Edmonton is, and always will be, a no-nonsense blue collar town that doesn’t need rich hockey team owners telling average folks (who pay top dollar for Oilers tickets) how to think. Isn’t this a democracy? I don’t like watching the Oil get speedbagged on home ice all year and then being told we can’t complain, to cheer louder and be positive. How many coaches have perennial playoff teams like New Jersey and Detroit had over the past 10 years? Why did Kevin Lowe get to be GM for all those years of mediocrity ? Is all it takes to become a powerful executive on an NHL team a successful hockey career as a fifth defenceman, lucky enough to have played with some true hockey greats? Unbelievable. Kevin Lowe needs to take a bullet for this team instead of deriding fans and dodging questions. Where is the leadership? Selling off Gretz and Messier, the Corson years, the Pronger fiasco, the Burke crap (who’s the moron now?) and now the organization telling fans to cheer and not complain after 3 years of no playoffs? I bought a little oilers shirt for my 1 year old son but now when I don’t want him wearing it anymore.

This year just didn't turn out well for a number of reasons. They started the year with the longest stretch of away games of any team, with 3 different goalies, with several really young players expected to fill roles they aren't ready for, missing their top defenseman for the last 30 games of the season, without a legit #2 center or any legit snipers.

A lot of people compare us to Chicago, because we're just as young and inexperienced, but what no one bothers to mention is Chicago had been rebuilding for a number of years and had top 6 draft picks for 4 straight years. They had to suck really bad for a long time to get players good enough to take them to the next level and those guys needed a few years to get the experience to get to where they need to be. We've only drafted higher than 13th once since 1995. That's 12 years of drafting #13 and up and that's why we have no legit game-dominating superstars... we haven't sucked enough to get a young roster as dominating as Chicago or Pittsburgh.

Thank you for taking the eyes of the hockey world off of us. We really appreciate the circus that you're running up there, because suddenly, we're not the butt of all of the jokes around the league anymore.

Love,
The Tampa Bay Lightning

P.S. There are plenty of beautiful golf courses in the Tampa area. Do... do you want to hang out for a while next weekend?

Thats great!!! why did Katz wait until now to speak? We have not heard from him since summer, then he waits till after the season seat renewals and drops this on our lap.I thought that Mac T would be gone after this year,either they fire him or he resigns,where do K lowe and Tambalini fit in all this? Does Tambalini report to Lowe and Lowe report to Katz,so they have nice titles but cannot make any decisions until Katz says so? I hope that this is not the case if it is they should all resign and let Katz be President,GM and coach because thats what it looks like what is happening.

Katz did not speak, he is passionate and texted his confidant - Bob Stauffer.

It appears that KLOWE reports to Bob, who will soon decide whether LOWE and MACT keep there jobs.

Funny how the Katz comments that I have been presenting this year all come at once from the other partixipants and even the Warrior received a kudo - must be a full moon.

But the five-word text was so wrong on so many levels it's remarkable they could have come from somebody smart enough to become a billionaire.

Quote from Terry Jones - step one - MSM is now questioning the integrity of the owner....

Step Two - season ticket holders stop buying

Step Three - the owner now has to consult with backers in regards to this backfired negative branding experiment in regards to the Rexall name within ETOWN.

Step Four - new building is put on hold.... no fan support, financing is in the toilet, government cannot stomach a freebie during a deficit, must run old betsy into the ground.

Step Five - Katz purchases ON and Team 1260 Astral to stop comments from media not controlled by internal media gatekeeper..

Step Six - Bob Stauffer secures lifetime contract with Rexall Sports - his relationship is compared with Katz as a Howard Hughes spokesperson (Robert Maheu) due to Katz alleged fear of germs..... and becomes more reclusive

@ volfman:
Our system is for 1 period we are a big aggressive fighting team. Than for two games we are a fast forchecking team, we than morph into a defensive first trap team for 1 and 1/2 games, than for 2 periods a goon it up with the toughest team anywhere squad. We than score a goal on a fast break and we field a high powered, young gun mentality till somebody makes a bad pass and than I have the guys change the philosophy back to a trap. Why is this so hard for fans and players to understand. Coach Mac T.

Timing???? WTF is with this timing? If you are the owner and you truly believe in your coach, would you not state publicly alot earlier that he ain't going anywhere, and ya, you underachieving player, you better play for this coach, cuz he's stayin, you might not, but he is.
That said, I believe that MacT will resign and move into an office by Klo. MacT can see that things didn't work out. He wants this organization to win. He will pull the plug, and I hope that helps, I'm not sure anymore.
In hindsight, I really didn't mind being a low payroll, hardworking, ass kicking team that fought like hell for 9th or maybe 8th......THIS SUCKS.

Gregor you talked about empty seats next season at Oilers games. I bet if this city had an NFL, NBA or MLB franchise where the fans had another team to go watch and support, you definately would see alot of empty seats. It happened in Boston and Chicago when the Bruins and Blackhawks were bad teams for 4 or 5 years. The Oilers management are lucky that they are the only game in town.

Sure, sending out O’Sullivan, Gagner, Nilson, Souray, Grebeshkov and Gilbert as the six players in the last minute of the season that mattered was stupid (as were a bunch of other moves) but his heart’s in the right place.
I like MacT, I really do. It’s a shame that his performance means he shouldn’t continue as coach.

Other than no Hemsky and 3 defensemen(well I guess those are pretty glaring errors, I'm not sure who else you send out--Penner as a screen maybe I guess Horc or Brodz to win the draw. So I guess penner, horcoff, hemsky, gagner, souray and one of the two G d men. 3/6 isnt't bad right....

It says "MacT is going nowhere" ... which could mean he isn't being fired or it could be a comment on the results he has achieved as in ...

MacT is doing such a bad job, he's going nowhere with this team.

I really think however that this is about Katz, the owner hearing something he didn't like and didn't want to hear. On his pre-game show they were actually talking about replacing the coach and not about what was happening on the ice. He wanted to stop the discussion and the guessing and get them to focus on the show about the game.

As the boss, he simply wanted the speculation about MacT's future to end.

I further infer and hope that is all it was and I hope they will be reviewing who the coach is starting April 12.

I love the Oil too, but some posters/callers are a bunch of crybabies. "If I'd known this, I wouldn't have just spent thousands of dollars renewing my season tickets."

Riiiiiiight. So sell your tickets to someone else, liar.

MacT isn't coming back. If September rolls around and I'm wrong, don't show up to the games if it means that much to you. But nothing is going to happen between now and the end of the season, so quit crying. Watch some baseball, watch some Final Four. Things will work out.

Most importantly, all you spineless anonymous callers and posters who would never say half the things you say right to MacT or Lowe's face, please, quit pulling the "If this team doesn't do what I want, OTHER people should stop going to the games. NOT ME, of course, I still enjoy hockey. But OTHER PEOPLE SHOULD STOP BUYING TICKETS! That's right, I'm sad my team sucks, but I'm too much of a loser to back up my own words with actions."

That's by far the worst crap on here. See you on July 1st, Oilers Nation. I have women's tennis to watch.

I'm thinking that Katz is backing his coach like any good owner would do, and Mac T will resign at the conclusion of the season. They've said all along that Mac T will have the entire year behind the bench, and it's always important to have the unwaivering support of Papa Katz. If Katz didn't want him behind the bench, he would have been turfed long ago. All I know is this is going to drive the "fire MacT" band wagon UP THE WALL! Should be fun to read some of the comments today...

I've called out MacT many times for dumb decisions this season and past seasons but for some reason I would miss him if he left and in a way it is comfortable having him here. i.e the grass isn't always greener and it's the devil you know.

volfman wrote:
Please explain how you came to this conclusion.
He coached a competitive team in a season where Todd Marchant was his highest-scoring centre. He’s been to the Stnaley Cup finals, and people are too quick to dismiss his pre-lockout work with a very cheap team.
The debacle in 2006-07 was certainly not his fault, given the lineup, and the team’s performance in 2007-08 was strong considering he was breaking in 7(!) different rookies.
Unfortunately, this season has gone rather differently.

Bingo, if you go back and check the preseason predictions from all (or most) out side "experts" and then factored in mid season hurdles (ie the Smyth trade/injuries that year) I'd be willing to bet this is the first year this team has "underachieved" under MacT.

WTF? Wow. That is a great many comments. FYI We are upgrading a bunch of stuff behind the scenes on the sites and the comments now have unique IDs which is why they have a 5 digit number in front of them.

We are going to try and put the numbering back to the way it was though - we know its harder to navigate the comments without knowing which comment is #23 etc.

Made the long trip from Calgary for the game last night with my 6 year old in tow...her first Oilers game, which made the night fun.

Listening to Lowe's presser last night was a big of a piss off - he's surprized that people are talking about the coach when the team is in the thick of the stretch drive? Come on Kev, pull your head out of your ass. The team has been horribly inconsistant all year, has been brutal down the stretch, can't win a game at home, and you expect anything else from the most passionate, and dedicated fans in the league?

I'd just like to see a little reality coming from the front office - I understand backing a friend or whatever, but if your loyalty to someone completely obliterates your ability to see the realities of a situation, maybe you shouldn't hire friends.

Other than that, where has last night's game been all year? Sure there were lapses, Gilbert is still horribly soft, we skated the puck into the offensive zone only to turn it over about fifty time, but there was some passion, there was 'jam', there was effort. Why does this show up in game 78 rather than game 28?

I’ve been a fan for over 30 years, since the Rusty Patnaude/Bill Flett days and all I can do is shake my head in disbelief. Edmonton is, and always will be, a no-nonsense blue collar town that doesn’t need rich hockey team owners telling average folks (who pay top dollar for Oilers tickets) how to think. Isn’t this a democracy? I don’t like watching the Oil get speedbagged on home ice all year and then being told we can’t complain, to cheer louder and be positive. How many coaches have perennial playoff teams like New Jersey and Detroit had over the past 10 years? Why did Kevin Lowe get to be GM for all those years of mediocrity ? Is all it takes to become a powerful executive on an NHL team a successful hockey career as a fifth defenceman, lucky enough to have played with some true hockey greats? Unbelievable. Kevin Lowe needs to take a bullet for this team instead of deriding fans and dodging questions. Where is the leadership? Selling off Gretz and Messier, the Corson years, the Pronger fiasco, the Burke crap (who’s the moron now?) and now the organization telling fans to cheer and not complain after 3 years of no playoffs? I bought a little oilers shirt for my 1 year old son but now when I don’t want him wearing it anymore.

Spliff , you were quoted as saying " Edmonton is, and always will be, a no-nonsense blue collar town that doesn’t need rich hockey team owners telling average folks (who pay top dollar for Oilers tickets) how to think. Isn’t this a democracy?"

Well Sir , You have to understand if you do not like it watch it on tv if you think the oilers are not worth the tickets. Im not even a oilers fan , Im actually a flames fan. But i do attend about 10 home games for the oilers because i love hockey and don't care if i shell out couple hundred a game for tickets heck if i could get season tickets i would buy them . Just like any other business this is sport , Its called Sports Entertainment. If you do not feel like your entertainment value then please do not watch or go to the games. As for rich hockey team owners they can do whatever they like especially in canadian markets and big U.S ones. For every person who doesn't renew a season ticket there are 10 more ready to buy regardless of win /loss records. Heck Mr.Katz can move the damn team if he wanted too and hire his grandma as Head coach it doesn't matter what fans think. You do not like people running your own business or getting into it so im sure team owners dont like it either. If anyone needs a talking to here is Kevin lowe he has continued on with bad judgements and signings ,not mac T. The poor guy is only working with what he is given. Just like when you go to work , for example if your a mechanic and you don't got a wrench it's going to be mighty hard to turn that nut by hand.But you will try with all your will power to get it off. But sometimes it just doesn't work. (mAc T to is working with the tools he is given . Kevin Lowe Seized everything.

So the Oil brass want us to talk about something besides Mac T hey? Here are some topics....

-For a four million dollar player, why can't Gilbert make a tape to tape pass out of his own zone and why is he softer than the Pilsberry dough boy?
-Why is the organization surprised by their own fans booing when they have the 4th worst home record in the league?
-Why will Horcs make as much as Datsyuk next year?
-Was wasn't the obvious need for a faceoff specialist adressed all year?
-Why have the special teams blown goats all year? (I tried to think of a nicer way to phrase that, but I couldn't)
-Why is the ice in Rexall so brutal pucks hop over the sticks of our pointmen in the 3rd period every night?
-How did that 3 headed goalie monster work out for you this year?

....yeah, I can see why they wouldn't want to talk about the coaching situation with all of these other great topics to hash out....(What's that sacrasm button again? Oh yeah: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!!!!!)

Flames Fan wrote:
Spliff , you were quoted as saying ” Edmonton is, and always will be, a no-nonsense blue collar town that doesn’t need rich hockey team owners telling average folks (who pay top dollar for Oilers tickets) how to think. Isn’t this a democracy?”

Well Sir , You have to understand if you do not like it watch it on tv if you think the oilers are not worth the tickets. Im not even a oilers fan , Im actually a flames fan. But i do attend about 10 home games for the oilers because i love hockey and don’t care if i shell out couple hundred a game for tickets heck if i could get season tickets i would buy them . Just like any other business this is sport , Its called Sports Entertainment. If you do not feel like your entertainment value then please do not watch or go to the games.

Thats ridiculous. I like Billy Bob Thornton movies but when I saw "Astronaut Farmer" or whatever it was called I left the theatre complaining. Are you saying that if we don't like a product we should stop buying it? Should I stop going to movies when I see a bad movie? Weak argument dude.

Spliffy , well in most cases when you do not like a product you either bring it back or stop buying it. In your case billy bob thorton movies ok you like him as an actor , you saw a movie of his you didn't like. Did you read the previews before you went and saw it ? I will not go sometimes if it got bad reviews ill wait until dvd comes out. Just like hockey if the oilers are on a 10 game losing streak do you still wanna see them go play? Probably not so that is my point , do not like something then do not buy it.